On Friday, the Trinamool Congress's Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien hinted that the party is leaning towards contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections independently.
"A few weeks ago, TMC Chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asserted that the TMC would vie for all the 42 seats in Bengal. Additionally, we are eyeing a few seats in Assam and the Tura Lok Sabha seat in Meghalaya. There has been no alteration in this stance," stated Derek O'Brien.
Sources revealed that there has been no exchange of communication between the Congress and TMC regarding seat-sharing in the recent couple of weeks.
It's been reported that discussions can recommence and a potential alliance can be forged if the Congress accedes to the TMC's proposal, which entails two seats in Bengal for Congress (Maldaha Dakshin and Berhampore), one seat in Meghalaya for TMC (Tura), and two Bengali-majority seats in Assam (out of four).
The earlier discord between the Congress and TMC arose when the ruling party in Bengal purportedly rebuffed the 'grand old party's' plea for around 8 to 10 seats.
Last month, Mamata Banerjee declared that her party would independently contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the state.
However, sources indicated that after the Congress and AAP reached a seat-sharing agreement, the TMC expressed willingness to reinitiate discussions with the Congress.
Furthermore, the Samajwadi Party (SP) led by Akhilesh Yadav and Congress delineated a strategy for seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh. Accordingly, Congress will vie for 17 Lok Sabha seats, while the remaining 63 seats will be contested by the Samajwadi Party and other coalition partners of the INDIA bloc.
